Today is National Reflection Day and this has made me think about how important reflection is in my life and how fundamental it has been in my working life too over the last 20 years.
Reflection can enable us to take stock of what's happening in our life, our work, our relationships. What can we learn from what's happened? Is there anything we could have done differently? Is there any need for improvement? If so how could we improve? How do we feel about it?
To reflect is to give something careful consideration, or to make an observation and when we do this we are increasing our awareness of who we are, what we do and what we say. If we learn from an experience, we gain knowledge and with reflection we can become so much more aware and maybe enlightened too.
In my sessions with my clients and with the online group training 'Helping Children With Loss' I mention 'reflection' a lot.
My 1:1 clients and those participating in the training all have reading to do in between their sessions with me. They also have 'reflective study' on their own experiences too.
It is the combination of reading the 'The Grief Recovery Method' or the 'When Children Grieve' handbook and the discovery of any resonance as well as the requirement for deeper reflection that leads to that incredible 'light bulb moment' that makes these programmes so life-changing.
All of a sudden all the dots join up. The regular distractions of food, alcohol, drugs, retail therapy, exercise, hoarding, anger, self-harm, 'helping others etc. etc. all make sense.
What are you reflecting on today?
photo credit -Dingzenyu - Unsplash